Part 5 will be on forming the crown on your paddle. When I start to form the crown, I mark both sides of the paddle to show the thickness of the paddles edge. A Turpin paddle is fairly thick, thicker than the paddles on a Cost or Gibson call. I like leaving a good solid 1/8" or better for thickness.

Now your ready to start shaping the crown. Do it on a belt sander, I like having the belt running towards the paddle screw end. First I start sanding the wood down to your edge line, while holding the paddle at an angle, but not letting it get to thin or too close to the center line. If you sand off your center line, you'll have problems keeping the crown even on both sides of your paddle.

When your done sanding both sides your paddle should look something like this, with a little untouched wood on both sides of the center line. You can see real quick if you didn't sand enough off, because your sanding marks will angle away from your center line, if your angle is to steep on one side, your untouched wood will be closer to the center line than the other side is. You want it as even as possible to get a nice even crown on your paddle.

Once you have both sides equally sanded, then it's time to finish the crown. Back on the belt sander, you place the paddle on the belt the same direction as you started with, and slowly, very slowly start rolling the paddle down towards the center line. Keep rolling it back and forth until you get all of the untouched wood rounded off too the center line on both sides, but leave your center line on, get as close as you can without sanding it off. Once you have all the wood rounded off with your center line still left, then start sanding the center of your paddle, by rolling it back and forth from one edge to the other side edge. Watch out for your finger tips and finger nails, you will sand them off too . Keep working that paddle back and forth until you have a nice even crown on it from the screw end to the tail end of your paddle, be carefull not to sand it uneven. Make sure you go slow enough to keep the thickness of your paddle even the full length of the paddle. Check the bottom of your paddle frequently to make sure you don't have any flat spots or edge rails on it, rock it from edge to edge when your crowning it.

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Last edited by WillowRidgeCalls on June 14th, 2013, 8:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Finishing the handle on your paddle. What I do is put one finger on the tail end of the paddle on the belt sander, and raise the screw end up, forcing the handle down on the belt sander. then start forcing the screw end down until you have the thickness you want in your handle. Then I roll it back and forth to put a little roundness in it. Be very carefull not to put to much pressure down on the screw end, otherwise you could sand off to much and cut into the crown of the paddle to far.

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Last edited by WillowRidgeCalls on June 14th, 2013, 8:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

It should look like this when your done sanding your handle section. If you didn't angle it enough and sanded to far into the crown, then you'll have to redo the crown on your paddle and carefully lift the screw end up as your rolling it back and forth to get rid of the flat spot. A lot of times I'll do the handle section first, before I finish the crown.Now your paddle should be finished, except for some hand sanding to round off the sharp edges. You can set it back on your call and make sure it sets level as it did before you started sanding the crown on it. If eveything is still level, then you did a great job crowning your paddle. You should be able to put a screw in and screw it down on the call and it should play the call, even without any tuning being done to the call, you should be able to get it to play a turkey sound without any chalk or tuning done to the box.

rsmithpa wrote:That was a great series and I enjoyed seeing the process. never ran a turpin and not sure how they sound but I enjoy seeing your work, Thanks!

A Turpin call has a more pronounced break in the rollover than a Cost style call has, more of a kee-YAUK than a kee-yauk. It has a deeper raspy sound to it also. With a Turpin you play the inside of the rail, instead of the top of the rail. You can start off playing the top of the rail, and roll the paddle over into the inside and really make it pop when it breaks over.